Summary: Internal hard drive not showing up on Mac can make your files inaccessible and make your Mac unbootable. This post will help you fix unrecognized internal hard drive without data loss.
External hard drives, thumb drives, USB drives, Flash memory cards, and devices like iPod are examples of storage devices that you can connect to your Mac using Thunderbolt, USB, or FireWire cables, or connect wirelessly using Bluetooth. Storage devices (such as external hard drives.
The internal hard drive of your Mac, also known as Macintosh HD or startup disk, is used to store operating system directory and other data, supporting computer to work in a normal manner. It could be an Apple SSD, yet the internal hard drive may not show up on the Mac, Finder or Disk Utility, stoping you from accessing your data or booting your Mac up.
Fortunately, there are some means to fix the internal hard drive not showing up issue. Basically, it depends on if you can boot the Mac when the hard drive is not showing up.
Case 1: The internal hard drive is not showing up but Mac boots up
If you can't see the internal hard drive but you can start and use your Mac normally, the good news is that your macOS volume (which usually is the Macintosh HD) is working fine. To access other files on the internal hard drive normally, you can try the following solutions.
Solution 1: Change the Mac's settings to show the internal hard drive
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If your Mac computer works in a normal state but the internal hard drive is not showing up in Finder or on desktop. This is because the system is not set up to display hard drives in Finder or on desktop. Here are some simple fixes for this:
1. Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab and select 'Hard disks' to make internal hard drives show on the desktop.
2. Go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar tab and select 'Hard disks'. Then your internal hard drive should be showing up in the Finder.
Instead, if the Mac doesn't display your external hard drive, you can check 'External disk' in this tab also to make it visible.
3. If the 'Hard disks' option is ticked but internal hard drive is not showing up in the Finder still, open the Finder, put your mouse at Locations in the left sidebar and see if it displays 'Show' or 'Hide'. Click and change and then identify if the hard drive is hidden by the Finder or not.
Solution 2: Check whether the internal hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility
The hard drive still not showing up on Mac? Well, you really need to check it in Disk Utility. You can make use of Disk Utility to perform any disk volume-related tasks. Normally, if the hard drive or SSD is listed in the left sidebar of Disk Utility, you can leave out the hardware problems.
If you find the internal hard drive showing up in Disk Utility but some partitions or APFS volumes of the hard drive are lost, the drive may have some file system corruptions. Hopefully, we can provide several clues to help you isolate and troubleshoot most logical disk errors.
1. Mount the internal hard drive on Mac
Sometimes, aninternal hard drive won't mount on Mac, it's time to force it to mount. Simply go to Disk Utility > choose the unmounted internal hard drive > Mount.
2. Run First Aid to repair the internal hard drive
If the internal hard drive is still not mounting on Mac, you can run First Aid to verify and repair various issues like partition table lost and file system corruption. You can go to Disk Utility > choose the greyed out partitions under internal hard drive > click First Aid > choose Run.
Data recovery from corrupted internal hard drive
If unfortunately,Disk Utility can't repair the disk, the corruptions on the internal hard drive are so serious. In this situation, all data on the drive is so fragile that any operation will overwrite it. To prevent further data loss, especially when you have no backup of the data, it's better to immediately recover lost data from the internal hard drive with reliable Mac data recovery software like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
Case 2: Internal hard drive is not showing up and you can't boot up the Mac
When you can't access the internal hard drive because the Mac is not booting up, you can try these solutions.
Solution 1: Repair the internal hard drive in macOS Recovery Mode
When your Mac won't boot as there is no statup disk, you can try to check if you can find the internal hard drive in macOS Recovery Mode by the following steps.
Step 1: Boot your Mac into macOS Recovery mode. Start your Mac and hold down the Command +R + Option keys simultaneously until you see an Apple logo or spinning globe. Then release the keys.
Step 2: Select Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities menu.
Step 3: Select the corrupted internal hard drive from the left-hand panel if you can see it.
Step 4: Click First Aid on the top and wait while it verifying and repairing errors.
Solution 2: Check the internal hard drive that won't show up in Terminal
If the internal hard drive disappeared from your iMac or Mac mini, you can check the internal hard drive in Terminal, especially for a internal Fusion drive. The reason is that when an internal Fusion drive is split, you can't see it showing up on Mac normally. Instead, it would be split into an extra SSD and a hard drive, making the internal fusion hard drive invisible.
If you can see them with correct storage capacity by the command line 'diskutil list', you need to recover lost data from the internal hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to avoid data loss and then fix a split fusion drive as soon as possible.
But if you can't see the fusion hard drive with right disk information, you'd better call 1-800-275-2273(US) or contact Apple for support.
How to recover lost data when the internal hard drive is not showing up on Mac?
When your internal hard drive is not showing up in Terminal or in Disk Utility under Recovery Mode, then your hard drive should have some serious corruption. In this case, the data on the unbootable Mac is a great concern for you for sure. To prevent losing important files, you can get your data off the internal hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is free Mac hard drive data recovery software that helps you recover documents, pictures, audios, videos, emails from internal and external hard drives. It can recover lost data when the hard drive is not showing up, not recognized, not mounted, not readable. What's more, this program can also recover lost data from formatted or corrupted Macintosh HD external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. Even when your Mac is not booting up, the program can regain access to your machine without taking out the internal hard drive.
It is compatible with macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.
How to recover lost data from internal hard drive when Mac can access the Internet?
If you have only one Mac computer, please directlyrun iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac in macOS Recovery mode and recover lost data from the unbootable Mac computer. This solution is highly recommended because it is easier and more effective.
Note: Before you follow the steps below, you have to make sure your Mac has Internet connection.
1. Reboot this Mac and press Command +Option +R keys.
2. Choose a network for your Mac. You need to make your Mac connected to the Internet all the time.
3. Click Utilities in the top menu and select Terminal from the drop-down menu.
4. Run the following command:
This will launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac through iBoysoft Server.
5. Select the internal hard drive and recover lost data with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac with its wizard.
How to recover lost data from internal hard drive when Mac can't access the Internet?
If the unbootable Mac is unable to be connected with the Internet or WiFi, additionally, you need to find another workable Mac to help you recover lost data.
Step 1: Download iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on another Mac computer.
Step 2: Install and launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on the healthy Mac computer.
Step 3: Click iBoysoft Data Recovery on the menu bar and then select 'Create Boot Drive'.
Step 4: Insert a USB drive into the healthy Mac computer.
Step 5: Follow the wizard to create a bootable recovery drive on the USB drive.
Step 6: When the creation process completes, you can insert the USB drive into the unbootable Mac computer, and then press the Power button and Option key (⌥) to start the Mac up.
Step 7: Select iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac from the boot options.
Note: If you're running macOS Mojave or earlier, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac will launch immediately when your Mac boots up. But, if your Mac is running macOS Catalina, you need two additional steps to launch this program.
Step 8: Wait for your Mac to boot up, open 'Terminal' application from 'Utilities' drop-down menu.
Step 9: Run the following command:
Now you can recover lost data from the corrupted internal hard drive.
Erase the internal hard drive and reinstall macOS
After retrieving data from the corrupted internal hard drive, you can reformat the internal hard disk to make it usable again.
Hard Drive For Mac Mini
Step 1: Boot your Mac to macOS Recovery mode.
Step 2: Select Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities menu.
Step 3: Select the corrupted internal hard drive from the sidebar.
Step 4: Click on Erase from the top.
Step 5: Setup the required information to reformat the disk and click Done when finished.
Step 6: Go back to macOS Utilities screen and select Reinstall macOS.
But if your internal hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility, the drive may have hardware problems. In this case, none of software is helpful. But you can try to boot up your Mac in Safe Boot or reset the PRAM / NVRAM, and then see if the internal hard drive is showing up on your Mac.
• Definite Guide to hard drives not showing up/mounting issues
If these solutions above fail to fix internal hard drive not showing up on Mac, Unfortunately, you have to send the internal hard drive to a local Apple service for technicial help or replace it with a new one.
Sep 27,2020 • Filed to: Hard Drive Recovery • Proven solutions
'How to format an external hard drive Mac? What format system to use when reformatting my storage drive for a Mac?'
This is a frequent question asked by first-time, as well as the not-so-tech-savvy, macOS users. Learning how to format an external hard drive Mac is essential. Because saving all your data on the Cloud is nice and all, but physical storage is still popular. Especially if you don't have a stable internet connection or if most of your files are large.
Luckily, you don't have to learn rocket science to be able to format an external hard drive for Mac or PC. The operation is pretty straightforward. When it comes to your iOS device, we have listed two methods for you, read below and explore more.
Part 1: What Is the Best Format for External Hard Drive Mac?
The first step to formatting your external drive for a Mac computer is choosing the right format. There are four possible choices:
- APFS (Apple File System)
- HFS+ (Mac OS Extended)
- exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
- FAT (MS-DOS)
To understand which is the best for you, let's have a comprehensive overview of each of them.
1. Apple File System
![Seagate hard drive mac Seagate hard drive mac](/uploads/1/2/8/3/128395748/861357073.jpg)
The APFS was first introduced in 2017 as a replacement for the HFS+. Nowadays, all new Macs come with the operating system preinstalled on APFS, as this system is optimized for use with SSD and flash storage drives. However, it still works with traditional HDD drives too.
This is the best format to pick if you have an external SSD or USB flash drive that you don't intend to use with a Windows device.
The biggest strength of this system is the speed, as well as the encryption and metadata handling. However, you won't be able to use this system with Time Machine.
2. Mac OS Extended
The HFS+, or Hierarchical File System plus on its real name, was the main file system used for Mac until 2017.
This type of file system is suitable to use with both HDD and SDD drives, but the latter will perform slightly better with the APFS mentioned above. If you have an older Mac, though, choosing the HFS+ is your best bet.
In general, all external drives formatted to HFS+ work nicely with older Mac versions but are incompatible with Windows.
3. Extended File Allocation Table
Designed by Microsoft, the exFAT is a good choice if you plan to use the external hard drive with both macOS and Windows systems. Yet, you won't get top performance on either. This choice is more appropriate for USB flash drives, although you can still use it for SDD and HDD units too.
The main issue with exFAT is that your drive will be more prone to fragmentation when used with Apple devices and is less stable than NTFS on Windows. If you really have to share the drive between Mac and Windows machines, that's your best option though.
4. MS-DOS
Macs also support FAT32 drives, marked as FAT in Disk Utility. This format should be avoided at all costs unless you're dealing with a really old Windows computer, which you really have to use in parallel with your Mac system.
Typically, there is no reason to choose this option unless you're planning to use the external hard drive on a Windows XP or earlier machine.
Part 2: How to Format an External Hard Drive Mac?
Hard Drive For Macbook Air
Now that you know which format to choose, it's time to learn how to format an external hard drive for Mac. There are essentially two methods, with Disk Utility or Time Machine function.
Note: If you plan to format an older external drive, perhaps one you used with another device, make sure to backup all data before proceeding. Formatting is a permanent procedure that can't be reversed. While there are data recovery software you can use if you lost data, it is always better to prevent.
That said, here's how to format an external hard drive Mac:
Method 1: Format Mac Hard Drive with Disk Utility
Disk Utility is a utility application proprietary to macOS that is used to both format and manage internal and external disks. Here's how to use it:
Step 1 Connect the external hard drive you want to format to your Mac, then start the Disk Utility app that you can find under Applications -> Utilities.
Step 2 On the left side of the Utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it. Then, on the top side under the Disk Utility, click on the Erase button.
Step 3 Follow the on-screen prompts to select the desired file system and allow the drive to format. That's it! After the process is complete, you can either start using the drive or choose to create partitions on it.
Seagate Hard Drive Mac
Method 2: Format Mac Hard Drive with Time Machine
Formatting an external hard drive with Time Machine is as easy as formatting it with Disk Utility. Time Machine, however, gives you the possibility to create an automatic backup of the data on your hard drive before formatting it.
Before you proceed, therefore, you should first set up the external drive to use with Time Machine. To do this, open System Preferences and select Time Machine after you've connected the external drive to your Mac.
Now, click on Select Disk and select the desired drive from the list. Click on the Use Disk button. At this point, the system will run an automatic backup two minutes after you've clicked on the Use Disk button, or you can proceed with the formatting if the hard disk is empty.
To format an external hard drive for Mac with Time Machine, you must follow the steps below.
Step 1 Open Finder, Applications, then go to Utilities and Disk Utility.
Step 2 Follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with Time Machine on your Mac system.
Part 3: Bonus Tip – Data Recovery from Formatted Hard Drive on Mac
Sometimes, it may happen that you accidentally formatted an external hard drive containing important data. Whether it's your wedding pictures or your bachelor's degree thesis, chances are you want to get that data back as quickly as possible.
If you have a newer version of Mac, you can use the Apple Time Machine to recover your canceled files, or you could choose to use external software, such as Recoverit Data Recovery.
1. Recover Data with Apple Time Machine
In the former hypothesis, you can try to recover your data with the Time Machine. This app is Apple's backup feature present on the newer systems. If you followed the steps above before formatting the hard drive with Time Machine and allowed the app to execute the backup, then there are high chances that you can recover any lost data without too much hassle.
To do so, just launch the Time Machine and browse through the folders to see if it has saved the files you require.
For easier browsing, you can use the time stamp feature on the right side of the screen and select the date or time when you executed the backup. Once you found the files, simply click on Restore to get them back.
2. Recover Data with Recoverit Data Recovery
If you didn't use the Time Machine function or couldn't find the files you need, you can try to recover any lost files with trusted third-party software, such as Recoverit - Data Recovery.
Recoverit (IS)
A Life Saver to Solve Your Data Loss Problems!
- It allows you to recover unlimited lost or deleted files from your Mac device, including photo, video, and audio data, document files, and more.
- It supports all types of Mac files irrespective of their extension.
- Compatible with both internal and external drives, USB pens, memory cards, and other hardware, so you can rest assured it will retrieve your data if it's there.
- Retrieve data from accidentally deleted files, lost or formatted partitions, data lost due to virus attacks, system crashes, or data lost by the Time Machine.
- It is free to download and supports all leading macOS versions, including the 10.14 release.
3,165,867 people have downloaded it
This system is also very easy to use, in just three easy steps:
Step 1Install the application and choose the desired location
Download and install the software on your Mac computer, then open it and select the external hard drive, partition, or location where you want to retrieve data.
Step 2Start the scan to retrieve your lost data
Click the Start button. The software will now scan the selected drive and display all retrieved data in an easy-to-scour list.
Step 3 Preview the recovered files and save them in your chosen location
Review and select the target files, then launch the recovery process. That's it. The software will restore your lost data.
Conclusion
As you can see, how to format an external hard drive Mac is not particularly complicated. The Disk Utility allows you to format the desired drive to the desired system in a blink of an eye. Backing up the data on your drive with Time Machine also allows you to avoid the recovery hassle. If you still lost some data, you even know which software to use to recover all lost files.
Now it's your turn. Use this guide to format your unreadable external drive, download, and use the data recovery software if needed, and don't forget to share this article with your Mac-addicted friends. They might make good use of it too.